Fun Mother Daughter Activities to Do at Home

Even when you're low on funds or the weather is awful, there are plenty of fun mother daughter activities to do at home. In fact, some of the best mother daughter bonding activities can ONLY be done at home.

With five kids, it takes a deliberate effort to carve out time to spend with each of my children. I make the effort because I think it's important for each of my children to feel valued. Plus, I like getting to see a different side of them and learn more about their personalities. Spending quality time with my kids also gives me an opportunity to reinforce values and introduce them to new things.

My time with my daughters is spent very differently than my time with my sons. They have different interests, different personalities, and different relationships with me. These are the activities I enjoy doing with my daughters at home.

Technology-Based Mother Daughter Activities

The Wiki Game

In the Wiki Game, you and your opponent agree on two words. The goal is to be the first person to get to the second word from the first word in Wikipedia by only clicking links within Wikipedia.

When my kids told me about this game, it seemed impossible. However, you quickly figure out tricks that make the game go quickly. A “slow” game might take up to 10 minutes.

Video Games

Even girls who think video games are just for boys have fun playing some of them. Some of our favorites are ones that get us moving. Just Dance is a ton of fun and so are Wii Sports.

Selfie Session

Pull out your smartphone or tablet and take selfies together. If you're like most moms, you are always the person behind the camera, which means there aren't a lot of photos of you floating around.

Your daughter will love this opportunity to capture some rare photos of you. Plus, you'll have mementos of your day together.

Girly Girl Mother Daughter Activities

Makeovers

From a very young age, many girls are fascinated by make up. It's a different form of playing dress-up and many of us never outgrow our fascination with it.

My younger daughter loves when we do makeovers on one another. Usually the goal is to make the other person look as ridiculous as possible.

With my teen daughter, I actually learn makeup techniques that evolved sometime after I stopped trying to learn them back in the 90's.

Manicure/Pedicure

Whether you do each other's nails or chat as you each do your own, mani/pedis are fun to do together. They are an easy and inexpensive way to pamper yourselves.

Home Spa

Skip the expensive day spa and pamper yourself at home. Coat your locks in a hot oil or conditioning treatment. Slather your face in a revitalizing facial mask. Coat your hands in a nourishing hand treatment.

Fashion Show

One of my most dreaded chores is cleaning out my closet. It just seems like so much work when I think about pulling out everything, sorting it, purging, and figuring out what items I need to purchase to fill in gaps.

It becomes a fun project when I have some help from my daughter and we turn it into a fashion show. I end up with new ideas to use old items, she ends up with a few hand-me-downs, and I end up purging more than I would on my own because my daughter acts as my fashion voice of reason.

It's just as fun to have her star in a fashion show from her closet. Her closet ends up more organized, she often finds items she forgot she had, and I'm usually persuaded to buy her an accessory or clothing item that really will round out a great outfit.

Fun Mother Daughter Games

Board Games

My family plays a lot of board games. These are some of our favorite 2-player games to play together.

Card Games

The great thing about card games is that a simple deck of cards provides so many entertainment options. Dating Divas has an amazing list of 2-player card games arranged by difficulty level.

Crafty Mother Daughter Activities

Pinterest Project Showdown

A friend of mine has an annual holiday tradition where she chooses a random craft project from Pinterest and has each member of the family recreate it. Sometimes she buys materials in advance, but usually the participants have to forage the house and make do with the materials they can find.

The more basic the craft (think crafts for kids) and the fewer materials you have available, the more fun this game is. Your daughter may surprise you with her ingenuity.

Teach Your Daughter a Craft or Learn One Together

If you already have a skill like sewing, cake decorating, or painting, spend a few hours teaching the skill to your daughter. You might discover an untapped talent. She might develop a new appreciation for you and your talents.

If you aren't crafty by nature, it can be fun to learn a new skill alongside your daughter. Pull up instructional videos on YouTube to learn how to crochet, take great photos, or create papier-mâché sculptures. Even something as simple as coloring together can be both relaxing and fun.

Create a Collage or Scrapbook

I love going through family photos with my daughter. It's such a fun way to relive old memories. Give your trip down memory lane purpose and choose photos to include in a scrapbook, collage, or a slideshow video.

Mother Daughter Kitchen Activities

Make a Meal Together

Cooking is a life skill all of our children will need as adults. It's easy to teach this skill to our children by working in the kitchen with them. Brainstorm possible dishes with your daughter as you inventory the refrigerator and pantry.

You'll have plenty of opportunities in the process of making a meal to explain how to choose flavors and ingredients that work well together, how to choose a cooking method, and how to clean as you cook for safety reasons and to save clean-up time afterwards.

Make Baked Goods for a Friend or Neighbor

My kids love baking but I hate having a kitchen full of tempting desserts and baked goods. So, when we bake together, I use the opportunity to encourage kindness and generosity in my children by suggesting we bake for others.

Other At-Home Mother Daughter Activities

Put Together a Care Package

Along the same lines as baking for a friend or neighbor, a fun mother daughter project is to put together. If you keep a stockpile of household supplies like I do, this is easy to do without leaving the house.

Household items that are wonderful care package items for the homeless are:

Baby wipes

Lip balm

Lotion

Sunscreen

Bandages

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

Tissues

Deodorant

Lip Sync Battle, Rap Battle or Dance Off

Actually, if it's just you and your daughter, these won't be actual “battles.” However, they are fun opportunities to help your daughter see a playful side of you.

Dance battles are fun because they let you show off your awesome running man and robot moves. Theoretically, your age should give you an advantage in rap battles since you've read more books and have a larger vocabulary. But if you can't bring yourself to rap or dance, you can always settle for a lip sync battle which only involves silently singing along with a song you love.

Blackout Poetry

For blackout poetry you just need a magazine, newspaper or catalog and something to write with (ideally a black marker). Then, you mark out words with the goal of leaving words that create a poem.

Reader Interactions

Comments

My kids are on spring break this week. Today we made banana bread and played badminton. Either of those work for you and your mom? Was there anything else in the post that appealed to you? If not, what types of things do you normally enjoy? I’ll try to brainstorm some more ideas.

It’s good that you have started to do stuff with your children, I would suggest, as you have done something outdoorsy, to do something like a movie night, watch a marathon of Disney Films! Something that every mom and daughter would enjoy!

Was there anything from the list above that sounded the least bit interesting? If not, what types of things do you enjoy? If you can point me in a general direction of the types of activities you like, I can help brainstorm some more ideas.